Once Is Enough

August 24, 1989

In Hampton, two youths were injured when they were attacked by a mob at the end of a rap concert at Hampton Coliseum. In Virginia Beach, the National Guard has been called in to help keep order at the upcoming Greekfest celebration.

What's going on here? Rap concerts have a reputation for violence. The coliseum doesn't need to open its doors if trouble is almost certain to come running in.

And Virginia Beach doesn't have to put out the welcome mat if it means getting trampled under the crowd that shows up. That's almost what happened at last year's Greekfest, when some of the approximately 20,000 young people who arrived for the party decided to toss beer bottles, block streets and harass police.

Communities that invite this kind of disruption soon get a reputation for it. That's not good for business the other 364 days of the year.

Maybe the crowd at Greekfest will be more orderly this year. Maybe the next rap concert at the coliseum won't end with violence. But taxpayers and businessmen who are footing the bill for the extra security should be asking, "What's the point?" "Do we really need this?"

If the fans of rap concerts include an unusual number of thugs, and if the people at the Greekfest can't behave themselves, then it's foolish to invite them back. Give the police and the National Guard in other cities something to do.